State M.A. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve

Rostov Oblast
60, Sholokhov str., Veshenskaya, Rostov Region
Phones: +7 (86353) 213-77
Web site: http://www.sholokhov.ru/

The collections of the National M.A. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve contains over 70000 museum items.

The documentary collection (over 15000 items) contains manuscripts and other documents referring to the life and work of M.A. Sholokhov, the culture of the Don country, social and political life and local history. Among them there are autographs, letters, notes, diplomas, maps, schemes, cuttings, etc. The most valuable things are the writer’s autographs, his correspondence, documentary records telling about M.A.Sholokhov working as deputy.

The book collection (over 20000 items) includes the first editions of the works by M.A. Sholokhov, the works published in foreign languages, books with the writer’s autographs, books about his literary work, booklets, albums, atlases, journals and newspapers.

The collection of the photo-film-audio documents (20000 items) includes negatives, photographs, slides, lantern-slides, tape-records, films, video and gramophone records. The richest photo material reflects the life and creative work of the writer in different years. The art of cinema is represented by the unique collection of documentaries, feature films made on Sholokhov’s works and video films about the Museum-Reserve. The audio records preserve the voice of the writer, literary radio programs on his literary work, and folk Cossack songs.

The collection of material monuments (over 10000 items) contains the memorial belongings of the writer and his wife, the materials of local history, objects of the Cossack everyday life.

In the fine arts collection (over 5000 items) there are paintings, drawings, sculptures made on the base and after the works by M.A. Sholokhov.

Each item is unique in its way possessing its artistic and scientific value. The most part of them are displayed in the permanent and travelling exhibitions.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov lived in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya during 1926–1984. The stanitsa is located on the left bank of the River Don. At present it is an administrative centre of the Sholokhov District the Rostov Region and of Vyoshensky settlement. There is the centre of the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve and a number of its sites.

The name of the stanitsa, according to the local historians P.Losev, A.Gribanov, writer A.Suichmezov, came from the word “vekha”, “veshka” meaning landmarks put up here in old times to direct on the big way from north to south”. V.N.Korolyov suggests another, a less common version. In his opinion, the name of the settlement originated from the word “vezha” meaning a “hut”, dwelling, lodge”. He writes: “In the pre-Mongolian time, East Slavs called semi-nomadic felt dwellings as “vezha”, which later were known in Russian as “кибитка” (“kibitka”) or “юрта” (“yurta”) (kinds of dwelling)… It is quite possible that in the locality of Vyoshki, more than 400 years ago, the first inhabitants lived in huts and lodges called “vezhi”.

In the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” M.A.Sholokhov gives a detailed description of Vyoshenskaya: “On the slope sandy left river bank, over the Don, there lies Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya, the oldest of the upriver Don stanitsas, which was moved from the place of Stanitsa Chigonaki ruined in the time of Peter I, and later renamed Vyoshenskaya…”

“Vyoshenskaya, covered all over with yellow sands. A stanitsa, cheerless, bald-pated, gardenless. In the square there is an old church grayed by time, six streets stretching along the River Don…”

Annually, an All-Russian literary folklore holiday “Sholokhov Spring” is held in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya. Dedicated to the writer’s birthday it gathers thousands of admirers of his work.

At the embankment of the stanitsa there is a bronze bust of the writer and a sculptural composition “Grigory and Aksinya”. In the park you can see a sculptural composition “Ded Shchukar”, in the centre of the stanitsa there is a bas-relief to remember about the meeting of the residents with the first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin in 1967, near the Palace of Culture there is a monument “The Oath” dedicated to the liberation of the district from the German fascist invaders.